Belated Observations
by Gryvon
Summary: Jack/Daniel. Daniel finds out that most of the people on the base believe they're dating.


Daniel was not known for being observant. Well, he was observant when it came to languages or foreign cultures or ancient artifacts, but it was well known around the base that he was oblivious when it came to noticing things about the people around him. It took him two weeks to realize that Carter had cut her hair, and he finally remembered that General Hammond was on vacation the day he got back.

He tended to forget that other people were not as socially blind as he was, so it came as a bit of a shock the first time he overheard someone talking about him and Jack. It wasn't uncommon for their names to be mentioned together in the same sentence. The first few years he'd served with SG1, he'd overheard a number of comments, most of which were bets on how long it would take the Colonel to snap and send the crew's resident dork packing. And of course, several thousand light years between planets didn't stop the rest of the Stargate personnel from finding out about any of the awkward blunders Daniel happened to make while they were away. He blamed Jack for those, and rightfully so, since Jack had admitted to it after the first few months. He'd even admitted to starting a couple of the outlandish rumors about Daniel that had a tendency to pop up on base, like the one about Daniel buying stock in Kleenex since he used it so often.

Still, he never would have expected to overhear people on base talking about him and Jack as a couple. He knew for certain that wasn't a rumor Jack would have started. What surprised him more was that all the comments he overheard were positive, sometimes even resigned, as if it was a given that Jack and Daniel had been dating for years.

All those secretly overheard comments tumbled around in his brain until there was only one thing he could think to do about them.

He knocked on the door to Jack's office, fidgeting slightly as one of the privates walked down the hall and smiled knowingly.

"It's open."

Daniel ducked inside as quick as he could, trying to shake the image of the smiling officer out of his head. He shut the door behind him, leaning on it like his weight could keep the reality of what was going around the base from leaking into Jack's office.

Jack was staring at him like he'd grown a third head, and the words spilled out of Daniel's mouth before he even had a chance to think about it.

"Do you know what they're saying about us?"

One of Jack's eyebrows lifted as Jack put on his 'humoring the mad scientist' face. "No, what are they saying about us?"

Now really was not the time for one of Jack's games. He stalked across the short room to plant both of his palms flat on Jack's desk as he glared at the older man. "Everyone thinks we're dating!"

Jack didn't even blink. "We are."

"Yes, and they know that," Daniel hissed.

"And?" The word was drawn out far too long for Jack to actually be ignorant of it.

Daniel's threatened to smack into the desk. "You knew?" His glare sharpened as another thought crossed his mind. "You told them?"

Jack's hands came up in an instant, palms out in an effort to placate him. "I didn't tell them."

"But you knew that they knew?" He couldn't believe Jack didn't tell him! Who knows what the base personnel were thinking about them, and he'd been blindly going about his day like nothing was different.

"Yeah, I thought you knew that..." Jack stopped himself with a shake of his head. "Ah, hell, this is getting ridiculous."

"But..." Daniel dropped into one of the chairs in front of Jack's desk. "How'd they find out if you didn't tell them? I certainly didn't tell them."

Jack stared at him for a long minute before shaking his head. "We haven't exactly been discrete."

"But, we haven't..." His words died on his lips as he started to realize just how obvious they had been. Enough covert kisses in dark corners or in their offices with the doors only half-closed and someone was bound to see.

"When was the last time we left to go home separately? Or came in at different times? Hell, we spend more of our time together than not. Someone was bound to notice. At the very least, Teal'c and Carter are sure to have us pegged, and while Teal'c wouldn't say anything, Carter would."

"Oh."

Daniel slumped back into the chair and digested everything Jack had just said.

"Is it a bad thing that they know?"

That was one of the last questions he would have expected Colonel Jack O'Neil to ask. He shook his head slowly, awed at Jack's placid acceptance of what should have been taboo in the military. "No, it's not."

"Good." Finally, Jack smiled at him, one of the big grins that let Daniel know that no matter how much of an oblivious idiot he was being, Jack still loved him.

"Yeah." Standing slowly, Daniel left the office. Another officer smiled at him as Daniel shut the door quietly, and this time Daniel smiled back. 


End file.
